If we knew what accountability was, perhaps we could bring it to politics. Do you know what it is? Probably not. As I said yesterday, we in America have a blind spot when it comes to political accountability.

What is Accountability?

Students are accountable to teachers. What do students do that makes them accountable? What do teachers do to hold them accountable?

You probably know what it’s like to have a boss- how does the boss hold you accountable? What do you do to be accountable? What actions do you take? What does the boss do? Can you articulate this, the essence of accountability?

What IS accountability exactly?

Accountability at Work and in Schools

Let’s look at how it works for a manager and a worker:

1. The manager tells the worker what needs to be done and expects it to be done. Usually with a deadline.
2. The worker works and then reports to the manager.
3. The manager evaluates the worker, continually, and in an annual review.
4. Plus, the manager can fire the worker.

It’s pretty much the same for a teacher and student:

1. The teacher instructs the student, assigns work and expects it to be done. Usually with a due date.
2. The student works, and hands in the work, or a report.
3. The teacher grades the work, and the student.
4. Plus, the teacher can flunk the student.

The student reports, and is graded

No Accountability in Politics

Let’s contrast this with politics.

1. The people can barely get their voices heard, much less steer the politician. The people expect nothing will get done. We expect “politics as usual” — huge spending and corruption.
2. Our elected officials give us speeches, but they don’t report to us. They evade our questions with impunity.
3. Other people are occasionally polled about their “approval rating”. But it doesn’t matter. Congress has had low approval ratings for years.
4. When the next election comes, the candidate with the most money almost always wins. And if an incumbent loses, he can simply get a job as a lobbyist.

Incumbents become lobbyists

We have no accountability in politics because we have no system to deliver accountability. Our politicians have no way to act accountably and we have no way to hold them accountable. We have a slight chance of holding them accountable in step 4, but the real problem is that we don’t have a relationship of accountability in steps 1, 2, and 3.

No Political Accountability => Lousy Political Results

Without accountability, what do we get? Shoddy performance, and not in accordance with our wishes.

What’s the solution?

1. We guide our politicians and expect results.
2. They report to us.
3. We grade them.
4. We have real choice in elections.

In tomorrow’s post, we’ll see how to build this.

See also the series:  Real Political Accountability, What is it?

Articles in this series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.